


A Woman All of Stone

by thalassaxeno



Category: Ancient Greek Religion & Lore
Genre: Butch/Femme, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/F, Lesbian Character, Lesbian Sex, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2020-05-16 21:33:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19326523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thalassaxeno/pseuds/thalassaxeno
Summary: We know the story: Perseus kills Medusa and rescues Andromeda. But what if it had gone differently? What if Medusa triumphed? What if Andromeda had a say in her own life? What if two women abused by Poseidon met? This story explores how the classical myth of Medusa could have gone instead if Medusa rescued Andromeda and the two fell in love.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm completely new to AO3 and this is my first time writing anything like this. I really appreciate any feedback. This only only the first part, and the story overall is planned to be about 25,000 words total, although that could vary. I'll definitely be changing things as I go.

The salt burned in the lacerations around my wrists. I’d been bound to the rock since Astraios had coursed the sky, and Eos now marched toward the horizon with grim determination. She marked the hour of my doom. Soon I would be part of this world no longer, but instead a shade in the world below. And what had I done to merit such a demise? Nothing. I simply existed. It was the jealousy of some god that caused my plight. One could count one a single hand the number of problems for which the gods are blameless. My punishment was a case of misinterpreted hyperbole. It all happened one night at a feast. We were loose on unmixed wine. Upon our table there lay injera, with spreads of lentils, beans and chicken. Our guests of honor were Pharaoh Ramesses II of Upper and Lower Egypt and King Piyama-radu of the Hattian Kingdom of Wilusa. My father, Cepheus, had invited them to our court on the coast of Ethiopia in order to secure peace between their nations.  
“My dear Cepheus,” Ramesses proclaimed in a swaggering boom of a voice, “not even my own beloved Nefertari can compare to your daughter’s beauty! The way her tightly curled locks are deftly bound behind her head puts all the women of Kemet and Kush to shame!” Declarations like this were in vogue in diplomatic speech at the time, though very few scribes bothered to write this kind of exchange down. It was simple procedural flattery, and no one needed to see this kind of filler on a peace treaty etched in bronze.  
Piyama-Radu chimed in with, “She must get it from you Cassiopeia!” though his words were interrupted by hiccups, “Truly she is more lovely than the Sun Goddess of Arinna herself.”  
My mother responded to their praise in jest, “Oh without a doubt, she even outstrips the Nereids!” A chorus of laughter came up from around the table, though I laughed nervously. I’d never relished in the way men praised me. Their eyes would wander and their lips would curl into a smirk that revealed the crude thoughts dancing behind their eyes. Still, it was my role to accept the praise that was afforded to me. My name had practically anticipated the constant adoration. “Andromeda,” they had named me. Protector of men. Such a name imposed expectations upon its owner.  
None of us expected what came of my mother’s boast. The gods do not always consider nuance. They are far more likely to fly into a rage at the slightest provocation. That’s what happened to practically every “lover” of Zeus. They leave a trail of bodies in their debaucherous wake. I suppose my mother should have known better than to compare me to Poseidon’s beloved Nereids. Whether or not he even considered them beautiful was irrelevant to him, for they were his possessions, and nothing mortal was permitted to surpass that which he owned. Thus he threw his tantrum. He called upon his creature, Cetus, to raze our coastline. Every day, villagers came to us, begging for a way to put an end to the destruction. We had no answer. Yet my father knew. Even when the oracle told him that the only solution was my sacrifice, his face did not move. He knew but must be done but he would not accept it until the gods held the knife to his throat.Yet still for him it was just another diplomatic formality. Instead of a treaty between kings it was a treaty between a mortal and a god. Instead of sealing it with a marriage, he sealed it with a sacrifice. The two were hardly different to him.  
So, there I lay, fixed upon the rock. The ropes dug into my wrists and ankles, drawing blood, and the breakers crashed barely a ten yards ahead of me, spraying salt water upon my exposed form. I had pulled my mind out of my body, as much from the humiliation as the fear. I lay bare and helpless as our kingdom watched. A sudden thud snapped me back into the moment. I could feel the vibrations through my body as another blow shook the earth. Minutes passed in that manner, feeling Cetus’ approach but never seeing it. Then finally it crested the horizon. First all I could see was its writhing mass of eyes. Some stood on short stalks like those of a crab, soulless eyes with no color to them. Some oozed on longer tendrils, like those of a snail. Finally, there were those that stood fixed in place, immense compound eyes, like those of a shrimp. All of them fixed their gaze upon me. As it grew closer I saw its mandibles. I would say there were twenty sets, but one could not tell from the way they chittered and interlocked in anticipation. It had a crab’s carapace for its body, but a slimy squid’s mantle hung limply out of the back. It walked upon what looked like a crab's legs, but they were strange and wrong. They didn’t stay stiff when they came down, but bent like cooked asparagus, causing it to bob in seemingly random directions. It had one enormous pincer on its right but a tentacle on its left, with two claws fixed to the end. It stood as tall as a mountain, yet it moved three times as fast as a ship. As it grew even nearer, some of the rocks around me began to shake to pieces, yet sadly mine held. I thought I heard my mother weep, but I must have imagined it, for the stomping drowned out all sound. When it grew so close that I could feel its slaver strike my face, I closed my eyes and prepared myself for my fate.  
I expected to be whisked down to the Underworld. I wasn’t sure how it was supposed to feel, but I knew it felt like something. Yet I felt nothing. Not even its spit flying at my face. I opened my eyes. Cetus stood there, still. Too still. Its color was different, its texture smoother. Its shell glistered in the morning sun. It was stone. Its eyes were no longer fixed upon me, but rather upon a point above its head. I tracked up and saw her. The Protector. My protector. A woman, riding a winged horse. She wore a hoplite’s armor, but no helmet sat upon her head. Instead her hair blew free. Yet it did not blow. Rather, it writhed. Dozens of asps hissed and squirmed on her head. She whispered to them and they calmed, pulling back to form a slicked back look. Then she gently clicked, and the horse began to descend in circles. I knew who she was now. The Gorgon. We had heard tales of her, even as far as we lay from the Achaeans. She turned men to stone and despised all life. I shuddered as she came closer. Yet when she pulled out her knife, she used it not to slit my throat but to sever the ropes that held me.  
“Im so sorry for what they’ve done to you,” she said in a comforting tone, “I can return you to them if you’d like. I know how some people love their families no matter what. I shook my head. Words stuck in my throat. “Okay, I can help you if you’ll accept. You can come with me and I’ll protect you.” Protect. It was in her name. Medusa, the Protector. From the same word as my name. I nodded. “Alright, first things first let’s get you some clothes.” She pulled a cloak from her riding pack and wrapped it gently around me. I pulled it tight and felt its soft silk embrace me. “Climb on.” She offered me her hand and I accepted, clambering onto her horse. She clicked her tongue again and he took off,beating his wings until we reached the clouds, and then gliding softly. I didn’t look back at the shores of Ethiopia.  
We didn’t talk for the rest of our journey through the sky. She knew I wasn’t ready to and she didn’t mind. She understood. Whenever she looked back to check on me I could see in her eyes that she’d endured something far worse. Even if I could have asked, I wouldn’t have. By the time we landed it was nearly nightfall.We alit upon a rocky hill with a cave opening on its side. I hadn’t felt my hunger until that moment, and I began to ask, but before I even had time to speak, she said, “I’ll get a fire going and make us some food. I’m sure you’re starving.” I nodded again.  
I sat in the cave watching her, her face lit by the fire as she cooked a stew of beans and vegetables with goat’s milk. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen a face like hers before. It was soft in some of the ways I’d seen in women’s faces before, yet also rough and solid. I could see a good part of the fear behind her name. Even without her gaze of stone, her face still projected control and betrayed no emotion. Yet I could feel the pain she had suffered. This changed when she brought a bowl over to me with a crust of bread to dip in it. I grinned as I began to slurp my soup and pick up the beans using the bread. It wasn’t until I’d finished eating that I looked up and saw that her expression had changed. Now she had a tender smile from cheek to cheek.  
“Sorry, I shouldn’t stare,” she said, looking away.  
“Please,” I said, “don’t worry. You’ve done so much for me, I don’t mind.” She looked back at my and smiled again, shyly this time. Her cheeks flushed and she looked away once more.  
I laughed, “So you’re Medusa? I always heard that you were more monster than woman. So why am I sharing a meal with you instead of frozen in stone?”  
“Oh that?” she laughed as well, “that only works on men. I guess the rumors spread because they’re afraid of a woman who can defend herself.” I laughed again, but more so because it was true than because of any humor. It was the same fear of a bold woman that had annihilated so many other women before her. Zeus feared Metis and so he devoured her, as if it weren’t enough that men like him are so often wont to leech a woman's life forces. Kreon executed Antigone because she defied him. It gave me comfort to know that at least Medusa had the power to fend off attackers.  
“It’s a gift from Athena,” she continued, “She’s my patron goddess, she’s always looked out for me, and I’ve always honored her.”  
“So why did she-”  
“I don’t talk about it,” she snapped. Her face turned cold and she turned away, her snakes hissing as she did. I had never seen a woman as powerful as her before, so what could be too much for her? I didn’t really want to know. I wanted to ease her pain, but it was too dangerous, and if it was a subject she’d rather not touch, I’d respect her wishes. She sat off in the back of the cave, stroking her snakes back into place and looking down into her lap. They resisted at first but eventually calmed while I lay myself down upon the floor.  
As the fire died down and I closed my eyes, I tried to fall asleep. But every time my eyes shut, an image of Poseidon’s beast flashed before and I jolted. Even with my eyes open, I couldn’t help but shiver. There was a cold breeze flowing into the cave, and my thoughts still dwelled on the helplessness I felt just that morning. I was so wrapped up in these thoughts that I didn’t hear her tread gently over to me. I didn’t notice anything until she draped over my body the linen blanket she had been carrying. I felt warmed inside, but still I jolted and shivered. She must have seen that I did so because she began to sing to me. It was a simple verse that I’d heard Achaean merchants sing down at the docks, but never in a voice like hers. The way she spoke was rough and guarded, but now as she sang, her voiced poured out like a nightingale.  
“While you live, be radiant!  
Don’t worry your sweet soul  
For life is short for all of us  
And time requests its toll.”  
The theme was harsh, yet somehow comforting. I may have had a brush with death today, but so must everyone eventually. While I could live I should live to my fullest and be thankful that I was alive. I don’t know when I drifted off, but when I woke up, Medusa was cooking a dish of rabbit and egg, seasoned with herbs she’d found outside. She boiled four eggs, two for each of us, and lay out the poached rabbit meat in strips on the wicker plates. As she cooked she fed a whole raw egg to one of her snakes. It unhinged its jaw and swallowed it whole, hitching its mouth along, inch by inch, until it had gone down its throat.  
“Do they need to eat separately from you?” I asked.  
“Good morning to you too,” she retorted, not taking her eyes off the iron pot. I supposed I had been a bit rude to lead with that but I couldn’t really help my curiosity. “And no, they don’t need to eat, I just find it helps calm them. Sometimes they seem to forget they’re a part of me.  
“So they have minds of their own?”  
“Honestly even after all this time I’m not quite sure. They seem to respond to my emotions but I can never control them when I’m keen to.” She fished the eggs out of the pot with a wooden spoon and brought the two plates over, handing me mine and sitting down to eat hers. It was a plain meal but the rabbit was tender, the eggs were just soft enough and everything was enhanced by her presence. She wore a light tan colored man’s chiton and a chlamys cloak over that. Her smoothed her snakes back again and I stared at her longer than I should have. I still couldn’t get over it. I’d never seen a woman like her before. The way she wore men’s clothes, the way she did up her short hair--albeit hair made of snakes. She presented herself like a man, but she was not like any man I had ever seen either. Even men who dressed exactly the same didn’t have the same influence that she had on me now. I was sure it must be her enchantment. That must factor into it somehow. But. But I wasn’t meant to feel this way about a woman. Even if I was no longer to be wed to a man of my parents’ choosing, I still would be expected to find a man nonetheless. No matter what town I fled to, I knew this was what was expected of me. I would not be safe without one. I was a fugitive from the gods and I needed to act as normally as I possibly could. I put the thoughts about her in a chest within the cellar of my mind.

“You never spoke your name,” she said, “I never thought to ask since you already seem to know mine.”

“Andromeda,” I muttered, “though its meaning has never done me much good.”

“Well, Andromeda,” she said softly, “I think it suits you.”

I didn’t know how to respond so I turned away, embarassed, and continued my meal, trying ignore everything I was thinking.

  
“Alright,” she said as soon as we’d finished eating, “We must set out now. If we make a good pace on Pegasus we can be to Phaestus by nightfall, but journeying over the sea is the most dangerous. All manner of things writhe there which would love to eat us in their kitchens down below. Are you ready to take this risk?”  
“Yes,” I said, more boldly than I had yet said anything in my entire life. We mounted Pegasus and were off.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andromeda and Medusa travel to Phaestus, in Crete. Andromeda begins to trust Medusa more and they both begin to grow closer. However, Andromeda lashes out, driving a rift between the two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a while since I added to this story. I was recovering from a surgery and didn't have the energy to write. I'll be updating incrementally, so this chapter probably isn't done yet.

Our journey took all day, as she had said it would. The sea was calm for much of the day, with nothing but schools of dolphins breaching the surface. We were high above the surf and thus beyond where they could see but it still encouraged me to see them there as our travel companions. As we drew closer to Crete, we began to see more and more merchant ships floating below us. Eventually, we came upon a ship which seemed to be followed by a dark shape in the water. I leaned to see what it could be and all at once an enormous beast burst forth from the sea and swallowed the ship whole. Its face was that of a toothy fish, but its body resembled that of a centipede, with a long and flat tail fixed at the end. Its jaw unchinged when it consumed the ship and its gills pressed outwards as it gulped it down. I had barely noticed before now that I had my arms around Medusa, but now I clung to her in fear like a drowning sailor clings to a piece of flotsam. This thing reminded me all too much of Cetus and what was almost my fate. My mind felt like it left my body. I screamed internally that what I saw was just some vision and not a true event.

“Andromeda, I am sorry,” Medusa said, “I truly am. I warned you of such creatures when we set out but I know how this sight much feel to you, especially after all that you have been through.” She let go of pegasus’ reins with one hand and moved it to mine, grasping it firmly yet also tenderly. My breath began to slow down to its normal rate and my thoughts focused. She was there for me and that was all that mattered in this moment. “That thing is called Skolopendra. There are others like it out there, but I promise you this, my lady: I will never let harm befall you. I vow to put myself between you and any that threaten you. I would rather die than see you hurt in the slightest.”

I didn’t know what to say. Men had said things like this to me before, but none had ever meant it in this way. Their words were flimsy masks for their other intentions. But Medusa was different. When she told me this, I knew that I would be safe with her. I knew it in the core of my very being. She spoke as if her sole purpose on this Earth was to protect me and simply know that she wanted to struck my heart like no arrow of Eros ever had before. I could not think what else to do but weep with both fear and relief. I leaned forward and rested my head on her shoulder as I continued to sob. She didn’t mind the tears. She just reached her arm back around me so that she held me safely in her embrace. For a fraction of a second, I allowed myself to feel at home, as we flew westwards towards the easternmost shores of Crete, towards the setting sun, land creeping into sight below us. I knew I was safe with her.

We landed on the western beach near Phaestus a few hours after sundown. It lay in a valley surrounded by plateaus. To the north lay a cliff speckled with small caves that could provide shelter. In the distance, to the east, I could see the faint lights of the oil lamps shining from Phaestus.

“Why have we stopped out here on the beach?” I asked, “Can’t we land in Phaestus?”

“We can’t go into the towns. We can’t be around other people.”

“What? Why not?”

“Andromeda, look at me,” she said, turning her face away and stroking her snakes back in embarrassment, “I’m a monster. They’d try to kill me.”

“But you’re not a monster!” I blurted out, “You kill monsters! Like you killed Cetus to save me. They should celebrate when you walk into town!”

“Oh Andromeda,” she sighed, “I wish everyone could see me as you do. It doesn’t matter what should be, because to them I’ll always be nothing but a monster, no matter what I do. If only I could see the world as such a kind place as well.” That last remark stung. She spoke as if I had no understanding of anything at all. She was condescending to me!

“I’m not a child! Don’t treat me like one!” I yelled. Medusa stepped away, taken aback.

“Andromeda, I-”

“I don’t need you to tell me how the world is. I understand it pretty fucking well. My parents tied me to a rock to be eaten by a beast. I don’t think the world is all honey and wine. I was just trying to say that you deserve to be treated like the protector you are. Why can’t you just take the damn compliment?”

“I’m sorry,” she said, “I understand. I know the feeling. I just worry for you. I know how the world can chew up and spit out a girl for doing nothing but existing. But I shouldn’t have talked to you as if you didn’t know that just as well as I do. I’m truly sorry.”

I looked away, towards the light of the town, trying to avoid her eyes. She hadn’t meant to hurt me, but my face was still burning with humiliation. I couldn’t stand being treated like some naive child. I turned north towards the cliff and began to walk. “Come, Medusa,” I said, brushing aside the entire conversation, “We need to find shelter for the night.” I could not see her as she walked behind me with Pegasus in tow, but I could feel the look of guilt on her face. It bit into with the nagging sensation that I had spurned her kindness. She had been hurt so much. I could see that. She needed the wounds in her heart tended to. But if anything now she might not trust me with anything that pained her too much to say. I was a fool. This woman was unlike any other in the world and now she might never trust me again. Inside the cave I laid down upon the smooth limestone floor and rolled out my blanket, pulling it over myself. I pretended to be sleeping already when Medusa came in and settled down to rest herself. I pretended not to hear her soft weeping. I pretended not to hear her stifle it and talk slow, deliberate breaths. I pretended I had not hurt her. After all, if I did otherwise, I might fall apart. The last I remember of that night before I drifted off to sleep was the feeling of a tear rolling down my own cheek.


End file.
